Sunday Post-Game

March 25th, 2007

In some ways, tonight’s 4-2 Penguins victory over Philadelphia is one of their more impressive wins in recent weeks. They stunk for much of the game, especially on the power play, and came out with two points anyway, points that could be huge in the final East Division standings. That’s something good teams do — win when they don’t play well.

The power play is a serious problem right now — 0-for-23 in four games this week. They can either snap out of it with some ugly goals – deflections and tips on point shots — or some fancy Schremp-Nilsson hook-ups. They have three weeks to figure it out, because, at the risk of lobbing out a cliche, special teams win in the playoffs.

This game was an important one for Jeff Deslauriers. He’s been sitting behind Nolan Schaefer a lot, so he hasn’t had many chances to break out of a mini-slump that left him winless since March 2. He gave up a soft goal in the first two minutes of the game, and it looked like the slump would continue, but he settled down considerably from there.

Todd Richards said the other day that the No. 1 goalie spot is still open for debate. I wonder if he means it. Is there enough time for Deslauriers to reclaim the top spot?

One other question that’s on my mind after tonight. Jonathan Filewich scored two huge goals 43 seconds apart, essentially winning the game for the Penguins. That gives him 28 on the year with 10 games to play. Can he break the team record of 31, shared by Michel Ouellet and Toby Petersen? I’d call it an even money proposition at this point.

One personnel note before I go: Wade Skolney missed today’s game with a neck injury. Richards said he’ll be evaluated tomorrow. Wade Brookbank filled in on defense in his absence.

A winner of first-place honors in the blogging category of the 2012 Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors awards, Penguins Insider was created to give local hockey fans an interactive, in-depth way to follow the team they so passionately support. The blog's author, beat writer Jonathan Bombulie, has been covering the team since its inception in 1999. Contact him at jbombulie@aol.com

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